[Ads-l] to flex

[James Eric Lawson]

Merriam-Webster online, intransitive verb 2b: "to make an
ostentatious display of something : show off". I don't agree with
either definition; 'pretentious' seems closer to the mark than 
"ostentatious".

I hope I'm not the only one who finds MW's "Kids Definition"
category (in this case the aggressively over-simplified "flex verb
ˈfleks 1 : to bend especially over and over 2 a : to move muscles
so as to cause flexion of b : to move or tense (a muscle) by
contraction") not only annoying but disturbing. Maybe they're
flexing their censorious 'conservative parent' chops?

That the "Kids Definition" category exists is annoying; what they 
include in it is disturbing. Surely it's self-evident the children are 
better able to comprehend a detailed and exact definition than the 
adults? I suppose the adults in the (MW-Britannica) room want to 
perpetuate the failures of education they continue to suffer but profit 
from.


On 6/18/23 06:40, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> 'To show ostentatiously and self-servingly":
> 
> <goog_1597554344>
>   https://www.yahoo.com/news/admit-mainstreaming-juneteenth-disaster-023208154.html
> <https://www.yahoo.com/news/admit-mainstreaming-juneteenth-disaster-023208154.html>:
> Walmart just couldn’t help but pander to customers as a way to flex that
> they were recognizing Black people.
> 
> JL
> 
> 
> 

-- 
James Eric Lawson

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